Not so good news on the edges front....

Yep, my edges are definitely going. What's going on? I tried the sleeping without the scarf experiment and apparently that's not working out so well for me. I think I'm going to up my castor oil treatments to 5 days instead of 3. Something has to give at this point.

In much happier news, I've finally found my HOLY GRAIL leave-in conditioner!!!!!!!!! Do you have any idea how long I've been searching for one?!?

Soultanicals knot sauce(pics to come soon) is wonder in a bottle. My hair is soft, tangle free and supple. I love it as a leave in but holy crap, its a wonderful detangler!!!!

Since it was birthday last week and I had a lot of celebrating planned, I let my hair loose for the festivities. What you must know about my hair is that it tangles VERY easy and is prone to knots and splits hence why I rarely wear my hair out. Well, after applying a pea size amount on my hair(in sections of course), I was amazing at how my hair untangled itself. It was like the knots disappeared. I wanted to cry tears of joy. Thank goodness I purchased the 16 oz bottle *whew*. I also order another goodie that might be my Spring/Summer moisturizer, woohooo!

In more PJ news. I FINALLY received my order from Beja Flor Naturals after escalating my issue to Paypal and Etsy. I've used the buttercream maybe once? And wasn't too impressed with it. It's very thick and my hair didn't feel so great the next day. I want to test it with other leave ins in my stash, so I can get an idea on what works best with it.


And lastly, my hair was a hit these past few days. My male classmate said he didn't realize how long my hair was because I keep it braided or twisted. I've been wearing a bantu knot out since Friday and everyday my puff gets bigger and bigger, I LOVE IT!

That's all now folks!
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The story of my disappearing hairline and missing products. BIG Post.

This is going to be a doozy.

There's good news, bad news and more bad news.

Let's start with the good news! Look at my pretty puff! Look how she grows! Ok, ok, fine, this was my hair after I took down my twists so this puff was born from stretched hair that had yet to be detangled. Anyways, I'm very happy with my puff.








Now the Bad News: My receding hairline.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

I dont know what happened, where I went wrong. ACCCCKKKK. When I noticed that my hairline was receding, I wanted to cry. I realized that I was doing something wrong, but what? I'm still participating in the Castor OIl challenge so that can't be it. Then I realized that I wear my hair scarf 85% of the time. My hair doesn't get a chance to breathe much so maybe that's it? I stopped wearing my scarf at night and only wear my scarf underneath my winter hats. I hope to god that helps because if not? I'm fucking screwed. I'm hoping my hair makes a turnaround. 

*le sigh*

In other news, I ordered products from Beija Flor Naturals sometime in February. Can you believe that it's March 27th and I have YET to receive my items? I'm still battling dryness and I reallly wanted to try the Creme Brulee but her customer service skills leaves MUCH to be desired. I was told that my items were be delivered by the 23rd and not only were my items NOT delivered to me, but my email correspondences have been ignored by the seller. I had no choice to submit a claim to Paypal, Etsy AND the Better Business Bureau. I always try to support small business, but this is ridiculous. There is NO excuse for taking my money and not delivering my items. I'm a full-time student and for me to spend my money and to be shifted in the end?!?!? Hell. No. 

So I tell you my friends...never buy from this company. Not only I was lied to, but I had to deal with crappy customer service. Not a winning combo. 

Hmmmm.

So as you may know, I suffer from dry hair. The crown area is my "kitchen", while the back of my hair is finer and easier to maintain/moisturizer. I've tried many leave-ins and while some worked when my hair was shorter, now that my hair is longer, it's not the same.

So what to do? I was going to buy KBB Sweet Ambrosia but the 15.99 price tag gave me a slight pause. I'm a full time student on a limited budget, so what to do? Well how about I make my own?

I've heard of Kimmyatube leave in and while I refuse to shell out $12.99 for Kinky Curly leave in, I'm going to make my own version.

Ingredients:

Tresemme Naturals conditioner
Castor Oil
Aloe vera gel
Purified water
Vitamin E oil

Sounds good right? Also, I'm going to try different hair butters to measure how they respond to my hair. I've ordered sample buttercreams and a full- size Creme Brulee hair butter from Bejia-Flor Naturals, as well as Herbal Hairdressing from Njoi Creations. My cousin gave me her jar of Nature's Blessings hair pomade to try as well.

Since the Spring is almost upon us(THANK GOODNESS), I want to try a moisturizing hair spritz with rose water and glycerin. To be honest, this winter has been brutal on my strands. The air in my house is DRY, the blistering winds and lack of moisture has wrecked havoc on my hair. I hope I can turn this ship around.

Until next time!
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My hair, wow my hair.

Wow is correct, my hair has growwwwn baby! Also, as you can see, my edges are coming in more nicely! I think by the summer, they'll be back to normal, I'm so excited to have edges again lol.

With that said, I'm still dealing with ssk and some splits, but since I'm in protective styles %99.99 of the time, it comes with the territory. I still haven't found the best moisturizing spritz for my hair or the best combo for battling dryness. I think it's time to do some more research. I might have to invest in Jojoba and Vitamin E oil. As far as my daily spritz, I've stopped adding conditioner to my mix because my hair stopped being a fan after awhile.

Karen's Body Beautiful is going to be in select Target stores in March, I'm so excited! I really loved her leave in, it'll be perfect for the warmer weather. I can't wait to get my hand on some of her products again since she closer her store last year.

Till next time!
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Back to henna

Hola!

I want to color my hair.

Badly.

However, I know that coloring my fine, fragile hair would be disastrous, so what better way to color my hair?

Why HENNA of course! Now, if you've been following my blog, you know I have a deep love affair for henna. I've dyed my hair red then back to black using henna/indigo. Well, I just realized that I can dye my hair brown using henna and indigo as well! I'm expecting my shipment of henna and indigo in the mail any day now, and I can't wait to try it!

In other news, I've slacked off the castor oil challenge because I'm recently recovering from a really bad bout of bronchitis which resulted in 2 ER trips so right now, I'm dealing with ssk's up the wazzoo.

Till next time!

New Year. New Hair. New Me.

Happy New Years!

Hope everyone had a great New Years, I actually slept my way through it. Oh well.

In hair news, I wore my puff for my xmas party and my hair was a HIT! I will say that my + winter= bad business. My poor hair was so dry and stiff by the end of the night that I had to re-wash it and deep condition it for almost 3 hours(bad I know).

As you can see from the pictures I posted, my edges are growing back in nicely and the small bald patch near the crown has some peach fuzz so I'm extremely happy about that. I decided to add some coconut oil to my castor oil mix since my hair likes it better. My hair loves the combination of B.A.S.K Silk and Honey Leave in and Qhemet's Amla and Olive heavy cream for moisture. I also purchased products from CC's Naturals and Pura body. Since I'm in protective styling for the next 2 weeks, it will take some time to do a decent review. Finally, I gave myself a much needed trim, which was a welcomed relief. I chopped off a lot but, meh, it'll grow back.

see my edges? I've never been so happy to see peach fuzz. As you can see that small patch is coming along nicely. My phone was acting stupid so this is the best I can do. 

My views of my bodacious puff.

 This is the style I wore on Christmas Day. I didn't feel like doing my hair so I did some twists in the front, sealed with some coconut oil and made a turban out of a neck scarf. 

This year I'm going to make a concentrated effort to watch what I put in my body. Whether it means drinking more water or getting over my aversion to leafy vegetables, I promise myself that I will do whatever it takes to grow long and healthy hair.

Till next time!

Castor OIl Challenge- Winter Edition

It's that time again! After much success with the Castor Oil Challenge, I've decided to continue the challenge. My hair has grown so much and even though I need to figure out a better sealant, massaging Castor oil in my scalp and edges has been extremely beneficial. 

It's time to go!